It is difficult to circumscribe that part of medicine which deals with metabolism. Metabolism includes all those processes by which matter, be it organic or inorganic, is utilized for the growth, repair and maintenance of the organism. The processes comprehend intake of food, including minerals, water and other factors, such as vitamins; transportation of oxygen, and the manifold chemical transformations of organic materials whereby energy is released as heat and the activities of muscles, nerves and glandular organs are maintained and waste products are disposed of by excretion through lungs, kidneys, skin and bowel. Therefore every field of medicine is invaded, and, in truth, as the search for understanding of the metabolic abnormalities in disease and injury has extended, light has been brought to bear on obscure problems of each of the several specialties of medicine and surgery.
Duncan and the outstanding collaborating authors have provided in this volume a